A Charleston courtroom was the setting for a bizarre scene when two black lesbians collapsed, wailed uncontrollably and hyper-ventilated after hearing that they would serve life for killing a three-year-old girl

Erica Mae Butts and Shanita Latrice Cunningham had to be picked off the floor by court officials and held in chairs as they were wheeled out of the room. Butts and Cunningham, both 25 from Summerville, South Carolina, were told that they will spend the rest of their lives in prison for beating Serenity Richardson to death in 2009 while the toddler was in their care. Serenity was visiting Butts, her godmother and her mother's best friend, and Cunningham, who was Butts's lover, for two weeks at their home in Summerville, South Carolina when the abuse took place. Butts admitted to Summerville police that she whipped Serenity with a belt for urinating on the floor. By the time paramedics reached Serenity, she was already dead and had been placed on ice and exposed to bleach in desperate attempts to revive her. Circuit Court Judge Deadra Richardson said nothing had ever affected her as strongly as the photos of the little girl's battered body. In August 2011, Butts entered an Alford plea, meaning that she maintains her innocence but acknowledges that taking her case to trial would likely result in a conviction. Cunningham pleaded guilty.